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DEMOCRATS MOVE TO MAKE MEDICARE MORE GENEROUS: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is marking up three bills Thursday that would add hearing aids, vision, and dental care to the list of items that Medicare covers.
Traditional Medicare doesn’t include these services, meaning seniors have to purchase plans separately, go without, or instead opt for Medicare Advantage, which is administered by private plans.
While much of Thursday’s hearing is likely to focus on drug prices because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s legislation is getting marked up, the latest development caught our eye, too. It’s happening just after President Trump signed an executive order to beef up Medicare Advantage plans, which cover about a third of seniors.
By moving ahead a bill that expands the benefits of traditional Medicare — which can only be done through Congress and not through rulemaking — Democrats are making the plans more like Medicare Advantage but also advancing their own narrative about how they are working to make the program better for seniors.
Democrats also are setting the groundwork for expanding on Medicare in the future. Wherever they land on healthcare expansion, whether through “Medicare for All” or the public option, the “Medicare” they envision will be very different than it is now, with far more healthcare services covered.
Good morning and welcome to the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Healthcare! This newsletter is written by senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and healthcare reporter Cassidy Morrison (@CassMorrison94). You can reach us with tips, calendar items, or suggestions at [email protected]. If someone forwarded you this email and you’d like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe here.
RIP ELIJAH CUMMINGS: House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings died early Thursday in Baltimore at the age of 68. In his committee role he launched investigations into drug pricing practices and repeatedly introduced bills that would let the government negotiate drug prices.
EXPECT A LONG DRUG PRICING MARKUP IN E&C: Republicans are planning to file more than 200 amendments on Thursday during the markup of Pelosi’s Lower Drug Costs Now Act. Ahead of the hearing they have highlighted the Congressional Budget Office analysis that projected as many as 15 new treatments may never make it to market if the bill were to become law. “What if one of those new drugs is a cure to ALS or Alzheimer’s?” Rep. Greg Walden said at the start of the hearing. Republicans are angry that the other bills they had been working on, which were bipartisan, have been sidelined. Tune in.
A second markup of the bill is underway in the House Education and Labor Committee. Tune in.
GENERIC DRUG APPROVALS REACH A RECORD HIGH IN 2019: Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Ned Sharpless announced Wednesday that the FDA had approved 1,171 generic drugs in 2019, surpassing the previous record of 971 in 2018. Sharpless said record approvals show progress in improving access and public health, as well as lowering costs of prescriptions, an issue most voters agree is paramount.
Azar credits Trump for the latest record: Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said three record-setting years of generic approvals are thanks to Trump’s policies to increase market competition, lower out of pocket costs, and decrease list prices. “Lower drug prices are an important part of delivering American patients the affordability they need and, ultimately, promoting better health. President Trump will continue to work to put American patients first,” Azar said.
Generic approvals are also faster because Congress passed legislation that Trump signed into law in 2017 to move the drugs through faster with the help of higher user fees.
WARREN GOES BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD FOR ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL’ FUNDING: Elizabeth Warren’s campaign is looking at ways to finance Medicare for All after the candidate landed in the hot seat at Tuesday’s debate when she didn’t answer whether she would increase taxes. “She’s reviewing the revenue options suggested by the 2016 Bernie campaign along with other revenue options. But she will only support pay-fors that meet the principles she has laid out in multiple debates,” a Warren campaign aide told CNN Wednesday.
Warren will need to nail down a way to pay for a plan that the Urban Institute estimates would cause government spending to climb $34 trillion, but she has studiously dodged saying whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to foot the bill. Fellow candidate Bernie Sanders, a long-time Medicare for All proponent, has acknowledged that raising taxes on the middle class would be necessary.
REPUBLICANS DEMAND ANSWERS ABOUT GOVERNMENT-FUNDED EXPERIMENTS USING FETAL TISSUE AND ANIMALS: Nearly 70 Republican lawmakers are demanding further information about National Institutes of Health experiments using animals and fetal tissue. The letter to Health and Human Services cited a Washington Examiner op-ed which described “grotesque” experiments including one in which scientists were “implanting thymus glands from aborted human babies into mice” and “dissecting kidney tissue from 8 to 18-week-old human fetuses.” While the NIH announced in June that government scientists would no longer be allowed to use newly acquired fetal tissue in future experiments, it did not outlaw research already underway that uses fetal tissue gathered from abortions.
JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CLEARS BILL TO RESTRICT ONLINE E-CIGARETTE SALES: The House Judiciary Committee voted to advance a bill that would crack down on e-cigarette manufacturers that allow online sales of its products without verifying people’s ages. The bill would require age verification on delivery in the hopes of keeping them out of the hands of teens.
The Rundown
Georgia Health News CBD oil as medicine: The promise and the risks
KCUR To discourage vaping among youth, missouri Gov. Parson mandates education campaign
Stat Forecasting Alzheimer’s: With a tsunami of new diagnoses expected, experts calculate the best ways to shift the tide
The Sacramento Bee Kaiser’s biggest union, representing 57,000 California workers, ratifies four-year contract
The Associated Press Trump rule may mean 1 million kids lose automatic free lunch
Bloomberg McKesson CEO among four summoned to court for opioid talks
Calendar
THURSDAY | Oct. 17
Congress back in session.
10 a.m. 2123 Rayburn. House Energy and Commerce to mark up the Lower Drug Costs Now Act and Medicare bills.
2 p.m. 2154 Rayburn. House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on “The Administration’s Decision to Deport Critically Ill Children and Their Families.” Details.
FRIDAY | Oct.
Noon. Dirksen G-50. Alliance for Health Policy briefing on “Examining the Continuum of Coverage Proposals.” Details.
WEDNESDAY | Oct. 23
10 a.m. 2123 Rayburn. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on “Sabotage: The Trump Administration’s Attack on Healthcare.” Details.
